CAIRO: A longstanding border dispute between Egypt and Sudan could isolate Cairo in negotiations over sharing the Nile as Ethiopia presses ahead with the construction of a large upstream dam.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said this week that the decades-old dispute over the Halayeb Triangle, which is held by Egypt but claimed by Khartoum, is a “thorn in the side of relations” between the two countries.

In remarks to Sudan’s Ashorooq TV, he said Egypt’s refusal to submit the dispute to international arbitration supports Sudan’s claim to the desert region.

Egypt has expressed increasing concern in recent years over the dam project in Ethiopia, fearing it could reduce its share of the Nile. The Blue Nile, the river’s main tributary, which accounts for some 80 per cent of the river’s volume, originates in Ethiopia’s highlands before merging with the White Nile in Khartoum.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2017